A Moment Like This
by Anne Finch
Summary: Twins Estrella and Esperanza, daughters of a death eater, move back to London and begin attending Hogwarts. But what happens when one twin falls for Malfoy and the other falls for Potter? OCxDM & OCxHP
1. The Arrival

**A Moment Like This **

**

* * *

  
**1. The arrival

Estrella

The sun was shinning warmly on the top of the car and the vast fields that stretched out around us as I stared out the window of the limo that had picked us up from the train station. My sister, Esperanza, and I sat next to each other on one side of the limo, our brother Max, and our parents sat across from us. We were on our way to the Malfoy Manor.

I wasn't sure if I was looking forward to going, or not. You see when we were children we used to visit the Malfoys several times a year. We would spend about two weeks every summer at their manor, us and their son, Draco. Then my dad got transferred back to Spain for work and we haven't been back since. I'm pretty sure that that may have something to do with my fathers promotion in the Ministry, why we haven't been back that is.

That's where my sister and I were born, in Spain. We went to The Vasco Núñez de Balboa Wizarding Academe, in Madrid. This year would have been our sixth year.

My Sister and I are identical twins. We both had long, thick, strait, dark hair that falls half way down our backs. We are 16, and about 5'4" and we have dark olive skin. The only difference between us is our eye color. Hers are a bright and brilliant cornflower blue color, while mine are a bright, clear peridot Green.

Our brother, Max, is 10 years old. He is 5' tall and has short spiky dark hair. His skin is also a dark olive color. Next year he will start his first year of school--his first and our last.

My father was not a marked death eater, but it is common knowledge among the Eater's that he has been helping them in anyway possible for many years. Because of this, my father is every bit as mean and nasty as Draco's. The reason that he has remained unmarked is so that he can continue to work for the ministry without being detected.

The reason for our move back to London has become clear the last few months. My father is needed close by so that he can better help serve as a death eater. So that's why we were there—going to the Malfoy Manor—we were going to be staying with the Malfoys until our manor was completed.

As I stared out the window, the Manor finally became visible through the line of trees. It was a huge, vast expanse of stone and windows that glittered in the sunlight. It was beautiful, almost as beautiful as our manor had been in Spain.

I knew that as soon as we got into the house that 3 things would happen immediately. One: Mrs. Malfoy would air kiss each of us in turn and exclaim about how much we have all grown, Two: Mr. Malfoy and my father would disappear into some room to discus who knows what, and Three: Draco would ignore me, and take my sister into a closet for some snogging.

As if right on cue, Mrs. Malfoy came out of the front door as soon as we stepped out of the limo. She immediately ran up to my mother air kissed her, giving her a brief squeeze. "Rosa Linda, You look great! And is this really the girls? Wow, You two have really grown, and your brother too." She exclaimed as she air kissed us each in turn.

_There's number One…_

When I turned around, my father was gone, and surprisingly Mr. Malfoy was also no where to be found. Soon I saw my sister and Draco sneak off as well.

"Guess it's just you and me, Max…" I said to my younger brother.

"Uh, I think your on your own Esty, I'm going to go take a fly, all that train and car riding made me feel sick." he replied as he trotted towards the back of the limo to get his broom.

I decided that I'd go up to my room and maybe write a letter or two to my friends back in Spain—anything to pass the time.

Later that night I had climbed into bed and began to drift off to sleep, when I heard the door creak open. I was a little alarmed, but I didn't get a chance to speak because suddenly there was a voice near by.

"Sorry about earlier." said the voice. "Is there anyway I can make it up to you?" Then I felt soft lips connect with my own.

"What Are You Doing?" I practically yelled, scrambling up in the bed, pulling the covers to me and flipping on the light.

"Oh, I, Uh…" He looked into my eyes and saw that they were green and not blue. "You're not Hope…" (Hope is what most people here called my sister, the English translation of Esperanza. They called me Star, for the same reason.)

"Uh, No, I'm not…"

"I'm sorry… I…uh…"

"Don't worry about it, Draco… Her room's next door."

"Uh… okay, I'm going to go then…bye."

_Well that was sufficiently awkward… but I can't say that I completely hated it… What am I saying?? I don't like Draco Malfoy, plus he likes Espy… I can't believe he just kissed me…_

I tossed and turned and then finally fell back to sleep. Unfortunately I fell asleep about 2 hours before it was time to get up for breakfast.

R

Esperanza

I awoke to the sound of rain tapping on the glass panes of my bedroom window. It had started raining sometime in the early morning and it didn't appear as if it were going to stop anytime in the near future. I decided that I would get up and take a shower, breakfast would be soon.

Even after my shower I was still about an hour early for breakfast, so I decided to explore the manor a little. It had been years since I had been here, and I wanted to get reacquainted. On my way towards the staircase, I saw a door that was slightly ajar, and went to investigate. When I shoved it the rest of the way open, I discovered that lead to a beautiful balcony that overlooked the back yard. I stepped out into the covered area and closed the door behind me. On the far end of the balcony I could see a cloaked figure sitting on a lounge, I could see his blonde hair sticking out of the side.

"Hey, Draco, whatcha doin' out in the rain?" I asked, plopping myself down beside him.

He looked a little taken aback, but quickly recovered. "Oh I couldn't sleep, so I came out here to think." He answered.

"Oh… What about?"

"Oh nothing much…So what are you doing out here?" He replied, changing the subject.

"Well I came to give you your 'good morning' kiss of course." I teased. We both laughed.

Draco stood and motioned for me to follow him. We went back inside and headed towards his room so that he could change into some dry clothes. He peeled off the cloak and began to remove his shirt as soon as we entered his room. Tossing them to the floor, he gave me a soft kiss that left me wanting more, and went into the closet. A few minutes later, he came out changed and ready to go. We linked arms and made our way down to breakfast.


	2. Crucio

**2. CRUCIO**

* * *

Estrella

I found myself in the library looking around at the Malfoy's collection of books and other heirlooms. The rain, had crushed any hope of going outside to do anything today. I was near the end table, holding a book when my father came into the room. His sudden entrance startled me, causing me to bump into the end table, which in turn caused it and the book in my hand to fall to the floor.

"Imbecile, girl." My father bellowed, "Look at the mess you've made. I will not have your clumsiness make me look bad in others eyes. Give me your wand!" Regretfully I reached into my pocket and handed over my wand.

He grabbed it, while pointing his own at me, "You will learn. CRUCIO!"

My body seared in pain. I immediately fell to the floor and writhed in pain, a million hot pokers stabbing into my spine and hundreds of whips lashing at my flesh. What I didn't notice while I was writhing was a pair of cool blue eyes watching from the darkened corner, resisting the urge to run to my aide.

Finally my father broke the curse. "Clean up your mess, and I'll be keeping this for a while." he said to me gesturing towards my wand. He then turned on his heel and he and Lucius left the room.

Slowly and painfully I began to get my self up off the floor my body was stiff and resistant to move from the pain that had just been inflicted upon it. I bent down and started cleaning up the broken items. A figure appeared beside me doing the same. I looked over and saw that it was Draco. Our eyes locked for a moment and I swear that I saw sincerity and compassion in his, cool, steely blue eyes.

"You saw, didn't you?" I asked quietly, concentrating on picking up the tiny shards of glass.

"Yeah, I'm sorry…"

"Why? It's not like you did anything."

"No, but neither did you."

We stayed quiet for the next few minutes while we cleaned up all the broken glass, and up righted the end table. Then Draco broke the silence, "Do you want to get some lunch or something…? Oh stupid question. You're probably not very hungry after going through that."

"Actually, lunch sounds good."

"Okay, then let's go."

Draco walked me to the fire place and grabbed a hand full of floo. He tossed it into the flames and they grew cool. Grabbing my hand, he stepped into the fire and shouted "The Leaky Cauldron." We were immediately whisked away in a whirlwind of ash and flame to the Leaky Cauldron. We took a table that was a few over from the fireplace, and a waitress came over to take our order.

We each ordered a butter beer and a burger. She left taking the menus and returned a few minutes later with our butter beers. We sipped them, sitting in a slightly awkward silence. I was never a fan of awkward silences, and I wasn't going to become one now,

"What's Hogwarts like?" I asked.

"Oh you'll love it. You know a lot of us Slytherins already, so you'll have no problems with having friends. Actually I think Blaise is coming over tonight for dinner."

"Oh, okay." After a moment of pondering I asked, "What if I don't make it into Slytherin?"

"That won't happen." He replied arrogantly. "Plus, where else would you go, Gryffindor? No, you'll make it, don't worry." He smirked.

After lunch we returned to the manor. When we arrived in the library, both our fathers were seated in the study chairs that faced the fireplace.

"And just where have you been?" My father demanded.

"We j-just went to lunch…" I stammered.

"I don't remember you asking." He snarled raising his wand.

"Sir," Draco interrupted, "It's my fault. I forced her to come with me." His father gave him a very displeased glare.

"Very well then," Lucius stated. Then he raised his wand and shouted "CRUCIO!"

There was nothing I could do except stand there. If I made any move it would only make things worse. So I stood stock still, while the guy who had recently showed me compassion was writhing in pain and agony on the floor at my feet.

The minutes passed slowly and when I thought that I could watch no longer, Lucius finally broke the curse and he and my father left. As soon as I heard the door knob click into place, I bent down to help Draco.

"Are you okay?" I asked, concerned.

"Yeah, fine." he answered as a trickle of blood flowed down his cheek.

"I'm sorry-" I began.

"It's not your fault" he interrupted.

"Well at least let me dress your wound." After a long pause Draco finally agreed.

He stood up, politely taking my hand when I offered it for help, and we made our way up the stairs and into my bedroom, limping slightly. Once inside he sat on the end of my bed and I went into the bathroom to fetch the small first aide kit that I kept in the medicine cabinet.

I used antiseptic to clean the blood off his face and out of the wound, which appeared to be a gash—he must have hit his head when he sunk to his knees under the curse. After cleaning it, I placed a thick herb tincture on to the wound and covered it with a white bandage.

"There." I stated, stepping back.

"Thanks. Well I need to do some things before dinner, so I better go."

"Okay… Thanks for lunch." I said a bit awkwardly.

"No problem… I'll see you at dinner." With that he walked out of my room, down the hall, and into his own.


	3. You kissed my sister!

3. You kissed my sister?!?!

Esperanza

After a long rainy day of boring nothingness, it was time to get ready for dinner. I hopped into the shower and washed my hair and body, as I wondered where Draco had been all day. When I got out of the shower, I wrapped my body in a thick, plush towel. Then I went over to the counter and began to dry my hair and apply some makeup.

When I was finished, I went into the closet and brought out my dress for dinner. Dinners at the Malfoy's were always at least semi-formal, if not formal. The dress was a deep satiny emerald green that feel to about mid calf. It had a belt that went around the waist with a rhinestone clip in the middle. I had a pair of strappy heels that matched the dress perfectly.

Once I was fully dressed and ready to go down stairs I made my way over to my sisters room. She was just finishing her make up when I entered.

"Hey, Esty, Que Pasa?" I asked."Almost ready?"

"Yeah, I just gotta get dressed and then reply to Antonio's owl."

"Oh, okay. I think Draco said Blaise is coming over tonight. So, I guess I will meet you downstairs."

"Yeah, I'll meet you down there, but first, help me zip this dress?"

"Of course!"

My sister slipped on her dress. It was identical to mine, except it was a wine red instead of the emerald green of mine. I zipped up the back and she slipped on her shoes. She was wearing her hair in long, thick, tumbling curls that cascaded down her back and over her shoulders, where as I was wearing mine pin strait.

As I stepped out of her room, I saw Draco passing by. "Care to escort a lady to dinner?" I asked as I walked up to him.

"Uh… yeah, sure."

"You seem distracted."

"Yeah, a little, but it's nothing. Let's get going." We linked arms and went downstairs to dinner.

When we stepped into the living room, everyone was just beginning to gather. Mum and dad were seated on a couch in conversation with the Malfoys and Blaise's parents, and Max was sitting with one of his friends that the Malfoys had agreed to let him invite. Draco and I took a seat near Blaise and struck up a conversation.

A couple of minutes later, Estrella joined us and we all stood and made our way into the dinning room. Mr. Malfoy sat at the head of the table, with Mr. Zambini on his right. Dad sat on Lucius' left with mum on his other side. Mrs. Zambini sat next to Mr. Zambini and Mrs. Malfoy sat next to mum. Max and his friend sat next to Mrs. Malfoy, Draco sat at the other head of the table, me on his right and Estrella on his left. Next to me was Max's friend, and next to Estrella was Blaise, who was seated next to his mum.

The house elves brought out the first course, minestrone soup, which was followed by a small salad. The main course was a creamy Alfredo sauce on Fettuccini noodles with grilled and seasoned chicken on top. It was served with thick slices of French bread. The meal was accompanied by small, meaningless chatter all around the table.

After dinner, the adults retired to the study to discuss what ever it was that they were discussing. Max and his friend went up stairs to play some video games, and the rest of us went into the entertainment room.

We sat about on the couches as Draco clicked on the T.V. I sat next to Draco on one couch, and Estrella sat with Blaise on another. Draco glanced over at Estrella on the couch and then he glanced back at the T.V. but he kept stealing glances at Estrella and Blaise. I didn't really think too much of it. Finally after Draco took his 100th glance at Estrella, I just had to say something to him. So I grabbed his arm and tried to lead him out of the room and in to the hall so that we could make our way into another room.

"Come on, Draco." I called. My sister and Blaise gave us a funny look, but I just took the remote from Draco and tossed it to Esty.

"What's up with them?" I heard Blaise ask.

"Probably off for another snogging session." My sister replied.

Once I had Draco in the library, I cornered him. "What's wrong with you? You've been really distracted lately."

"It's nothing."

"Since when do you keep secrets, Draco?"

"Since it's about your sister," Draco's eyes shot up and his cheeks flushed slightly.

_Aw, he's so cute when he gets embarrassed._

"You like Esty?" I questioned.

"I…uh…."

"Draco, come on, you can tell me, and you know it."

"Fine, I think I like your sister."  
"Since when?"

"What do you mean since when?"

"Well the last time we got on the subject of my sister, you told me that you would always think of her as my sister. That you weren't real fond of her."

"Well that's changed."

"How? Why?"

"I…Don't know…"

"Well, why don't you tell her?"

"Uh…"

"Don't worry about me, Draco, I'll move on! Trust me… That Harry Potter is looking good…" Draco shot me a death glare. "Whoa, I'm kidding! Just tell her!"

"The other night, when I came into your room."

"Yeah,"

"Well before I went into your room I went into hers by mistake."

"You kissed my sister?!?!"

"Yeah…" He replied looking sheepish.

"Aw! That's so cute!"


	4. Lost?

4. Lost?

Estrella

I watched as my sister exited the room abruptly dragging Draco behind her. Blaise and I were left alone in the entertainment room with nothing but the T.V. An awkward silence hung around us. Finally, Blaise decided to speak up.

"So," He said, "What's up with your sister and Draco?"

"Who knows, probably off to snog each other somewhere in the house."

"Oh."

_Let's add another tally to the awkwardness scale…_

"So, Blaise, You're in Slytherin too?"

"Yeah."

"That's cool."

"Yep. So, uh, what do you want to do, since our host just sort of abandoned us?"

"Oh, uh, I donno. There doesn't seem to be much on T.V."

_Hello! Hot guy sitting next to you on the couch and you talk about T.V.? Hot guy who you've had a crush on since before you moved away._

When my sister and Draco returned from their snog session, it didn't really look as if they had been snogging. I mean my sisters hair was still exactly the way it had been when they left, and her dress didn't even have so much as a crease on it. My suspicions arose, but I kept them to my self.

"So what do you say we take a short walk in the woods?" Draco suggested. My sister quickly agreed and Blaise seemed up for it, so I agreed as well. We all got up from the couches and made our way towards the backyard. Blaise stood just behind me the whole way out, and the way Draco kept shooting him glares made my suspicions rise once again. _What was wrong with Draco?_

Once we were outside, Draco led us to the edge of the forest. After about ten minutes of walking, somehow, I had gotten separated from the rest of the group. It was dark, and I had no wand, since my father had taken it from me. I stumbled around, blindly through the forest. I thought that my sister may be playing a cruel joke on me, so I decided not to call out for anyone just yet. I walked in the direction that I thought we had come from, deciding that I mind as well wait for them to come back out.

I found nothing but trees all around me, no sign of light, no sign of dark looming figures, nothing, just trees. In my blindness I stumbled over a tree root and fell to the ground. A searing pain shot up my leg, as my ankle twisted, apparently caught between the roots. I cried out in pain. I couldn't move, not only was my right ankle stuck between the roots, but I also think that it is broken, or really severely damaged.

*-*

Esperanza

I followed Draco deeper into the woods, I wasn't sure what he had planned, so I just followed in silence like everyone else. We reached a small clearing that was lit by moon light where Draco had stopped to let everyone catch up. When Blaise came through the last of the trees, Estrella wasn't with him.

"Where's Esty?" I asked him.

"I thought she was with you guys." He answered.

"Oh shit! What happened to her?" I asked a small bit of panic evident in my voice.

"Don't worry, we'll find her." Draco said. "I know these woods. Maybe she got separated and went back to the front."

"Yeah, maybe." I said doubtfully. Never the less, we started making our way to the front of the woods, this time Draco took a couple of off trail short cuts, getting us there quickly. The whole way we kept our eyes peeled and our wands lit.

When we reached the front of the woods there was no sign of Estrella. The sky suddenly let loose and it began to rain. Draco ran for a little shed near the edge of the woods and grabbed a couple of rain parkas. Each of us took one.

"Hope, you and Blaise stay towards the front of the woods, don't go to deep and stick together. Look for any signs of her. I'm going to go in deeper. Maybe she got turned around and lost in the darkness." Draco said as he took off jogging into the woods.

Blaise and I lit our wands and went set to searching the edge of the woods. We searched everywhere. Still no sign of her. Hopefully Draco would find her quickly, and hopefully she'd be okay.

*-*

Estrella

_Just perfect! I'm stuck here, in some tree roots and now it is raining. I wonder if they've even noticed that I'm gone yet._

I sat in the most comfortable position that I could considering my situation. I had tried calling out, but all that accomplished was a sore throat. Now I was soaking wet and miserable. If I only had my wand I could have sent up a flare or something to let them know that I was stuck.

Suddenly I heard movement in the bushes behind me. I couldn't get turned around to see what it was from the position that I was sitting in. I nearly screamed when a warm hand was placed on my shoulder.

"There you are! Are you okay?" The figure moved into my line of vision and I saw that it was Draco.

"I think I've broken my ankle, or at least sprained it."

"Can you stand on it?" he asked.

"It's stuck."

"Oh, okay, hold on." He bent down and began to move my leg. I winced in pain as he delicately pulled it free from the roots. He offered me his hand I and I tried to stand, but immediately realized that I couldn't.

Draco quickly removed his parka, upon noticing that I was shivering, and draped it around my shoulders. Then he placed one hand beneath my knees and one against my back picking me up. I rested my head against his chest on the trek out of the woods.

When we got to the edge of the woods, I could hear my sister and Blaise talking. Then I heard them running towards us.

"Oh Goddess, is she okay?" My sister gasped.

"Let's get her inside and find out." Draco replied slightly out of breath.

Draco carried me upstairs and into the first bed room that he came to. He gently laid me on the bed and disappeared through a door. Blaise had run to fetch someone to help. When he returned he had all of the adults in tow. Max had apparently heard the commotion and he and his friend had come too.

"I've called St. Mungos, and a healer is on the way." Mrs. Malfoy announced, as she joined everyone in the now crowded bedroom. "Now Draco, what on earth happened?"

Draco exited the door in which he had disappeared through, and I saw that he had gone to change his clothes. He had brought me a change of clothes as well. I'm not sure where he had gotten them, but I couldn't really change into them now that the bed room was occupied by about ten other people.

"We went for a walk in the woods, and her ankle got caught between a couple of roots and she twisted it." Draco answered. His father sent him a glare that sent shivers down my spine. I knew what that glare meant—it meant that Draco was in for it once things calmed down and no one was around to see it.

Suddenly there was a loud "pop" and a healer appeared at the foot of the bed. She asked a few questions and then set to work on my leg. After nearly 45 minutes, she was finished.

"Now young lady, you'll have to keep off that leg for a few days while the bones heal themselves, which means basically no getting out of bed unless absolutely necessary, and then you need to use these crutches. I will come back in 3 days to check your progress. Also it seems as though you might be coming down with a virus from being out in the rain. Take this potion twice a day until I return. Got it?"

"Yes, Ma'am." I replied. And she disaparated with another loud pop.

Soon after the healer had left, everyone wished their "Get Wells," and left the room, leaving me, Draco, and Espy alone in his bedroom—Blaise had gone home with his parents.

"Here." Draco said handing me the folded clothes. "I'm going to grab a quick shower, change in the mean time. Then I'll take you to your room, if you want."

For the first time I looked around and realized that I was in Draco's room. He went through the door that he had disappeared through earlier, which I now assumed was the bathroom, and I heard the water start running. My sister helped me change into the clothes that Draco had handed me—they turned out to be a pair of flannel pajama pants and a white wife beater—She yawned and went off to her room to catch some sleep.

I leaned back against Draco's pillows as a wave of exhaustion hit me. I was only meaning to rest my eyes for a moment, but I quickly fell into a deep sleep.


	5. We're not our parents

**5. We're not our parents, so stop blaming yourself!**

* * *

Estrella

I awoke as the sun slowly began to creep through the shades on the window. Rolling over, I found myself face to face with a sleeping Draco. His face looked so innocent as he slept, that I just laid there for a few moments, watching him. Finally he stirred, one eye opened, then the other. His piercing blue eyes stared questioningly at me, and for a moment my breath caught.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Better, though my leg still hurts." I answered.

" Today we were supposed to go to Diagon Alley to get stuff for school, but it doesn't look like you're going to be able to make it."

"No, but I'm sure Espy will pick out some stuff for me. And you can help her, since you know what we will need and all."

"Uh, I was going to stay here with you, you know help out with what ever you need help with, if that's okay."

"No, you should go."

"But--"

"You need stuff to, no?"

"Yeah, but my mom will get my stuff, she usually does anyways."

"Oh."

There was a soft knock at the door, Draco looked towards it and groaned. He streched lazily on the bed, ignoring the knock. The knock sounded again, this time a little louder. He groaned again, but this time he climbed out from under the covers and padded over to the door. When he opened it, I saw that it was Esperanza.

"Morning, Sleepy Head." She called to me as she gave Draco a peck on the cheek.

"Morning." I said back to her. Draco grumbled some more and made his way to the bathroom.

"Mum says that I have to get your stuff while we go shopping in Diagon Alley. They are leaving you here, with Draco to look after you. That should be comical. I can't really see him doing too much to help, other than calling a house elf or something." We both laughed. "Anyways, is there anything special that you want?"

"I don't think so."

Draco came out of the bathroom, and snuggled back under the covers. "Take good care of my sister, okay Drakie?" Espy said. Draco glared at her and then turned over. "Geez, touchy. Well see you two later."

After Espy left, I, too snuggled down into the covers and closed my eyes, shortly after I found my self asleep again. The next time I woke up, Draco's arm was draped around my waist. It was a little unnerving, yet comforting at the same time. I drifted back to sleep feeling safe and confused.

*_*

Esperanza

I left Draco's room, where my sister had spent the night unintentionally—they looked so cute laying there in bed together— and headed for the dinning room. Breakfast was about to be served for those of us heading over to Diagon Alley today.

My mum had told me that I had to grab stuff for Esty while I was there, which basically meant, get two of everything. We don't know what house we will be in yet, so I can't really get anything that is house specific, but I can get all of the other basics, like the books and robes, and stuff. I didn't mind shopping for the two of us, especially when I knew that Esty and Draco were going to be getting a lot of alone time today.

When I got into the dinning room, Mum and Narcissa were just arriving. Max would be tagging along, but only because he wanted to go to the joke shop. We ate a light breakfast and then made our way to the Floo.

When we arrived in Diagon Alley, the first place we went was Flourish and Botts. I was looking at a couple of books when a tall, dark haired boy bumped into me.

"Oh, Sorry." he said looking guilty.

"No problem." I said to him. "By the way, my name is Esperanza, but you can just call me Hope."

"Oh, I'm Harry. It is nice to meet you, Hope. Are you new? To Hogwarts I mean."

"Yeah. This is my first year there."

"What year are you in?"

"Sixth, you?"

"Same."

"Well, I guess I'll be seeing you at school then?"

"Yeah, Maybe we'll be in the same house or something."

"Yeah, well I better get going, can you hand me two of those books?"

"Two?"

"Yeah, one for me and one for my sister."

"Oh, sure." He handed me the books, his hand lightly brushing against mine. We stayed like that for a moment, then I pulled my hand away and placed the books in my basket.

"Well it was nice to meet you, Harry. See you at Hogwarts!" I waved to him good bye and made my way to the checkout line.

I met my mother and Narcissa out side the shop. "Time to go robe shopping, my dear!" my mother called out when she saw me. I followed her and Narcissa to the robe shop. The shop keeper fitted me and then went into the back. She returned with four blank robes, and two robes with a Slytherin emblem on them.

"We don't know your house yet, so we can't put an emblem on them for you." she explained to me. "But we have someone at the Castle who will add them for you."

Narcissa and my mother purchased the robes and then left the store. On my way out, I spotted Harry. He was really good looking. I wondered why, with all the good looking friends that Draco always introduced us to, I had never met Harry before.

*_*

Estrella

I stared intently at Draco. I couldn't understand why he was being so… nice to me. Any other time that we had come over to visit, he had always paid more attention to Espy, than to me. Why was that changing now?

I was utterly confused, when we were younger, I had had a crush on Draco, but it became clear that Draco was not interested in me, so I moved on. Last night, Blaise and I had really hit it off. I like him—he's cute, sweet, and funny. Draco is… cute, yes I will give him that, he is defiantly not sweet though, or, well he hasn't been until now: If you can consider this being sweet. He can be funny sometimes, but most of the time it is at another persons expense.

Draco rolled over, releasing my waist. I took the advantage to slip, unnoticed, out of his bed and into my room so that I could shower and change. Of course I had only made it to putting my right foot on the ground to apply some weight to it when I fell to the ground. I let out an "aaie!" on my way to the ground.

When I looked up, I saw Draco peering over the edge of the bed, a small smirk playing on his face. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, fine." I answered, trying to cover my embarrassment of not being able to stand on my own feet. The next thing I knew, Draco was bent down next to me, picking me up.

"Now where is it that you were trying to get to?" he asked, still smirking.

"My room. I wanted to take a shower, but I see now that that is going to be pretty difficult. So I guess I will have to do a spell or something." I said while resting my head on his shoulder.

"Well… I could help you with that." he replied smoothly. My cheeks flushed at the thought of Draco bathing me. Although, I had to admit that the feel of his hands on my body might not be so bad.

"Uh, no that's okay. I think I can manage with a spell."

His smirk grew even wider, into what appeared to be… a smile? "Now, now, Esty, I was merely talking about helping you find a spell, but it appears that you may have something else in mind."

My face must have looked like a tomato by now. "Oh." was all I could muster. I had officially kicked the awkwardness level up at least five notches. I heard Draco begin to laugh. This only made me feel more awkward. _Probably because I don't think I have ever heard him laugh like that before._

When we finally arrived in my room, Draco placed me on the edge of the bed and went over to my desk where he grabbed a small book—it was obviously something my mother had left for me to read. He skimmed through the pages, finally stopping at a page near the middle.

"Aha, here we go!" he exclaimed, startling me.

"What is it?" I asked as he spun around, wand pointed at me. Thoroughly freaked out, I looked around in panic, '_Where's my wand_,' I thought. He murmured a brief spell and my clothes changed and my hair fell wetly against my back. I was in such a panic that I didn't even notice what he had done to me at first.

"What the hell are you doing?" I practically yelled.

"Relax, it was just a bathing and changing of clothes spell. I'm not going to hurt you again."

I eyed my self and realized that he was telling the truth. "What do you mean again?"

"What?… I, uh… Well, it _is_ my fault that your leg is broken. If I hadn't suggested that we go into the woods, or I would have paid more attention, then this would have never happened."

"Draco, it's not your fault. It was an accident, and if anyone should have been paying more attention, it should have been me. If I would have been following you guys more closely, I would not have gotten lost."

"You don't blame me?"

"No, of course not. Why should I?"

"Well our parents all do."

"Well we're not our parents, so stop blaming yourself."


	6. Oi, Potter!

**6. Oi, Potter! What the hell is your problem?**

* * *

**Estrella**

Three days have passed since I broke my leg, which meant that the healer was coming to look at it today. Draco had carried me down to breakfast, and now we were sitting in the living room, waiting for the Healer to arrive.

When she finally got there, she looked over my leg, felt a few spots, preformed a small spell, and then declared that I was better. She gave me one more potion, which she said would start working in 10 minutes. It was going to give my leg more strength. I gulped it down and grimaced, it tasted horrible. With a satisfied smile, the healer left.

At some point while the healer was still checking my leg, Draco had left the room. I sat alone in the room, waiting and wondering when I would know if the potion had worked.

Ten minutes later, Draco returned. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Great!" I said while testing out my leg. It felt like normal. No pain or anything!

"Great! Then let's get you upstairs and get you changed!" He exclaimed.

"Why?" I asked.

"We're going to Wizarding Willie's Wild Casino!"

"We are?!"

"Yeah! Our parents decided to take us on a vacation, since school starts on Monday!"

"Oh, great! I can't wait!" I ran up stairs and quickly showered and changed my clothes. I threw some clothes into a small bag, and headed back down stairs. When I got down stairs, I found Draco in the living room but no one else was to be found. "Where is everyone?"

"They went on ahead; I told them that I would bring you when you were finished, so that you wouldn't have to rush."

"Oh… that was sweet of you." I said shyly, "Well I think I am ready."

"Okay, let's go."

Draco and I floo-ed to Willie's and made our way to the front desk. "There's a reservation under Malfoy, I believe my father has already checked in." Draco said to the concierge at the front desk.

"Yes, sir." the concierge answered. "Here are the keys to your room. 19th floor, room 109, on the left."

Draco turned to the bell boy, who had our bags and the bell boy nodded and disaparated with our luggage. "So what do you want to do first?" he asked me.

"Uh, well I don't know. Where is everyone else anyways?"

"Maybe they are up stairs."

We hopped into the closest elevator, and quickly shot up to the 19th floor. We stepped out and turned left. The first door we came to was room 109. Draco turned the key, and the door opened. Inside it was huge, there were already a couple of suit cases that had been unpacked in the far closet, and mine and Draco's had just been hung.

There were two king size beds, four closets, a couch, and two arm chairs, a small dinette, and a small kitchen. The two beds were separated in two rooms that came off of the main room that housed the sitting room, kitchen, and dinette. There was also a large bathroom that came off the main room that had two sinks, a shower, a toilet, and a Jacuzzi tub.

"Wow! This place is amazing." I stated, not that I was unaccustomed to nice upscale hotels, but this one was really nice. Even the paint on the walls set off a relaxing vibration.

"Yeah, it is. It looks like Hope's already settled in to the room on the left. Oh, look, she left a note." He pulled it off the wall and scanned it. Then he handed it to me.

_ Dear Draco and Estrella,_

_ Hope you guys get here soon, and when you do, come down to the casino!_

_ On the fourth floor there is a club called 'Calle Ocho.' That's where I'm heading _

_ to now. Come join me when you get in! My bell boy said that it is the best club _

_ in the whole casino!_

_ Anyways, what do you think of this room? Caliente or what? Well my loves,_

_ Hurry up! I can't wait any longer for you! Meet me in Calle Ocho!_

_ Ciao,_

_ Esperanza_

I finished reading the note and then set it down on the table. "Well, what do you say?" I asked Draco.

"Let's go!" he suggested. So we both changed into some Club appropriate attire, and headed for Calle Ocho.

***_***

**Esperanza**

I arrived with our parents at the casino, and checked in. We all separated to our own rooms, Max and his friend in one, Mum and Dad in theirs, the Malfoys in theirs, and then Draco, my sister, and I would be sharing the fourth room.

The bell boy, whom aparated my luggage to the room was looking quite cute. So I didn't hesitate to let him know, when I saw him spelling my clothing to go into the appropriate drawers.

After a brief make out session, we stared talking. That's when he told me about Calle Ocho. He said that he got off at 11:30, and that he would probably be going there after work. So I decided that I would defiantly be checking out Calle Ocho! After waiting 45 minutes for Draco and Esty to arrive, I decided that I couldn't wait any longer. So I threw on some sexy club clothes, and headed down.

When I got inside the club, I immediately headed for the dance floor, dancing is one of my favorite things to do. A really cute guy came up behind me and started dancing with me after a few minutes.

When I went up to the bar to grab a drink, I saw Harry—from the book store—standing near the bar tender, ordering a drink. I sauntered over to him, and stood really close to his side. My arm rubbed up against his and he turned to look, I pretended to be staring at the drink menu intently.

"It's Hope, right?" he asked.

I slowly looked up, and acting a little surprised I answered. "Yeah… Hey, Harry. What are you doing here?"

"Well my friends and I decided to come here since school is starting on Monday."

"Oh, yeah that's why were here too, our parents decided to take us out."

The bartender interrupted, "What'll you have, Miss?"

"Uh, I'll have what ever he's having." I said pointing to Harry.

"Coming right up." He came back a few seconds later with my glass, and I went to grab my room key, to charge it.

"Here," Harry said, "It's on me. Add it to my tab, Charlie."

"No problem, Harry."

"Come on, Hope, I want to introduce you to some friends of mine." I grabbed my drink and followed Harry, as he led me by my hand.

Harry led me to a table near the back where a tall, red haired kid and a bushy haired brunette were seated. "Ron, Hermione, this is Hope. She is transferring to Hogwarts this year."

They both waved a hello, as Harry pulled up another seat so that I could join them. We had a couple more rounds of drinks while we sat and talked. Finally, after an eternity of asking, I convinced Harry to take me out on the dance floor.

Harry and I danced well together, if I do say so myself. Just as the third song was ending, I had an urgent urge to pee. I quickly excused my self and told Harry I would meet him back at the table later. I gave him a quick peck on the lips and headed off for the bathroom.

***_***

**Harry**

Hope had just run off to the bathroom when I made my way towards the table, on my way, I decided to stop and grab some more drinks. Hope and I seemed to be getting along great. I really liked her; she has the most beautiful blue eyes and she seemed really down to earth. I figured that she must like me as well, since she kissed me before she left.

When I got to the bar I ordered two fire whiskeys and waited for Charlie to get them. While I was waiting I looked over and saw something that made my heart drop. Hope was standing at the bar, and Malfoy had his arm around her waist. She looked quite cozy.

Being infuriated that she was obviously into Malfoy, and had been playing with me, I grabbed the drinks that Charlie handed me and stormed over to Hope and Malfoy. I angrily thrust one of the drinks at her and spat, "Here's your drink, have a nice night."

I was about to walk off when she replied, "What are you talking about?"

Then Malfoy put in his two cents, "Oi, Potter, what the hell is your problem?"

"Well Hope here had--"

Hope cut me off, "Hope? You've seen her? We've been looking everywhere for her! Where is she?"

"What the hell are you taking about; you've been looking for her?"

"She's my sister."

"Oh. Sister. You're… twins?"

_Shit, I had forgotten that Hope had told me that she had a sister when we met in the bookstore._

"Yeah, where is she?"

"Uh, bathroom…" I replied and quickly turned on my heel and headed for the table, trying to hide my embarrassment.

A few minutes later, Hope joined us at the table. Now that I looked I noticed that she had been wearing a pair of low rise jeans and purple sequin halter top that ended just above her navel. It was completely opposite of the low rise jeans skirt and Yellow sparkly top that her sister had been wearing.

"Did your, uh sister, find you?" I asked her.

"Yeah, she's off dancing with Draco." she said, "He's so cute when he's nervous." she added as an after thought.

"You didn't tell me you guys were twins."

"Oh, yeah, sorry. She told me what happened. I guess I should have warned you."

My cheeks glowed slightly with the embarrassment of the scene I had caused at the bar., "Don't worry about it," I mumbled. "So, she's seeing Malfoy?"

"Draco? Well not exactly. You see Draco really likes her, but she doesn't know. She actually hates him sort of."

"She didn't look like she hated him."

"Well you see it goes back to when we were kids. Draco and I were always the ones that hit it off. Esty was always more independent when we went to visit the Malfoys. Mostly I guess because Draco ignored her."

"So you and Mal-, I mean Draco, are …?"  
"No. We were just friends."

"Oh.

"What's wrong Harry?"

"Nothing." _How could_ she _be mixed up with someone as loathsome as Malfoy? _

"Something is wrong."

Ron piped in, "Harry and Malfoy hate each others guts. The nasty git --"

Just then Malfoy and Hope's sister came up to our table. "Come on Espy, Let's dance!" Her sister called. Malfoy just stood there, an ugly sneer on his face. The two girls went off to dance, leaving Malfoy at our table.

"Stay away from Esperanza, Potter. I'm warning you." He threatened before going off to join the girls on the dance floor.


	7. Roulette

7. Roulette

Estrella

The next day, Draco, Esperanza, and I headed down to the casino. We had all slept the morning away after being at the club until about sunrise. Esperanza and I collapsed in the bed that was in our room of the suite, and that was the last thing I could remember after getting home.

Now we are walking into the casino and headed for the buffet—we were are all ravenous. The buffet had any thing and everything that you could ever want. Chicken served 7 different ways, Steaks, Pork, Pizza, Pasta, Bread, Salad, Sushi… The food stretched out forever on the buffet counters.

After we ate our fill, we made our way into the main casino. Our first stop was the slot machines. We each lost a couple of galleons, none of us winning. We left the slots and decided to try our luck at the table games. That's when we stumbled upon the Roulette table.

"What about this?" Draco questioned my sister and I.

"Why not?" We answered. We each put down a gold galleon on the table and in return we got 493 chips.

We began to place our bets, picking numbers, and placing our chips on them. The dealer called for no more bets. Draco had chips on 3, 12, 17, 24, 35, and even. Esperanza had chips on 9, 16, 22, 25, and 32. I had bets on 7, 13, 14, 18, 21, and red. The ball spun, finally landing on an odd, black, 19—all of us losing. A man that had been playing at our table had a single chip on 19. He won 350 chips.

A cocktail waitress came around asking for drink orders. Draco ordered us each a fire whiskey. We continued playing only winning once or twice. Our piles of chips were quickly diminishing. Draco had a few more fire whiskeys, and finally we were on our last bets.

I laid chips on 9, 16, 22, 32, five on even, and my last six on 12. Draco laid five on odd, 2, 8, 9, 21, and 33. Esperanza laid on 13, 19, 23, 25, and 30. The dealer called for no more bets, and dropped the ball. We watched as it spun around and around, finally bouncing to a stop on the number 12. I stared in shock at first and then it registered that that was me. Not only did I have six on the 12, but I had five on the even. The dealer cleared the table and dealt me my winnings, all totaling up to 2600 chips. Everyone else was out of chips, and it was getting late. We wanted to hit another club tonight, so I cashed out, getting 5 gold galleons, 7 silver sickles, and 16 bronze knuts, not a bad pull in—better than I could have hoped for anyways.

We left the casino and meandered our way back to our suite. We quickly changed our clothes, while I put my winnings in my bag, and then we left to go to Club Oasis.

*_*

Draco

After we arrived at Club Oasis, I went to the bar to grab the three of us drinks, while the girls went to find us a table. I got the drinks from the bartender, and then set out to find the girls. I found them sitting at a small round table, talking to a couple of guys.

"Hey." I said as I walked up. The guys turned to stare at me, wondering either why the hell I was walking up on their 'territory' or which of the girls I was with—which was both and neither at the same time. I mean, I came here with both of them, but none of us were involved. Although I do like Estrella, but I am not sure if it will ever go anywhere. I handed both girls their drinks and sat in the empty chair between them.

"Draco, this is Dylan and Alex. Dylan, Alex, this is our friend Draco." Esperanza introduced. I nodded, as did they. "We were just talking about the Spain-England Quidditch tournament this winter." She continued.

"Ah, yes! That should be a great game. We all know that England is going to win!" I replied.

"You wish!" retorted Estrella. We all laughed.

After a few more moments, Alex leaned over and asked Estrella, "Would you like to dance?"

"Sure," she replied while standing gracefully and following Alex. She glanced back and I smiled at her. She smiled back and disappeared into the crowd.

"How about you?" Dylan asked, "Wanna dance?"

Esperanza glanced over at me. "Don't worry; I was actually just thinking about asking that blonde over there." I told her. And with that I stood up and strode over to the blonde.

'Hey, Christy, care to dance." I had met Christy the other night when we were at Caliente.

"With you, Draco? Of Course!" she replied and took my hand.

After dancing for a while I spotted Estrella dancing with that Alex kid. He had a drink in one hand and they were dancing really close. I felt a pang of jealousy, wishing that it was me standing that close to her, and not him. But until I had the nerve to admit this to her, it wasn't going to happen. For now I would have to be her friend.

While I was watching Estrella dance, I saw what I really wished I hadn't. I saw Alex lean down and capture Estrella in a lip lock. I was ready to pounce in and rescue her when I saw her reach her arm around his neck and deepen the kiss.

I felt my heart drop. I guess I really care about her more than I let on, even to my self. I left Christy on the dance floor, and went to the bar. She didn't seem to care, just turned around and started dancing with another guy. I sat at the bar and ordered a shot.

About seven shots later, I heard the twins approaching with their new friends. By now I was pretty drunk. After all the fire whiskeys at the casino and the ones I had here, plus the seven shots I had just downed, who wouldn't be.

When Estrella was close I grabbed her hand and pulled her off to a more secluded area. She gave me a quizzical look, as did Esperanza and the two guys, but I didn't care and it didn't stop me.

"Draco where are we going?" she asked.

"Righ' ov'r 'ere." I slurred. I soon found a wall and gently pushed her up against it.

"What are you doing?" she asked chuckling a little.

"Kissing you," I replied as I started to lean in.

"Draco."

"Hm?"

"Your drunk--" My lips connected with hers. At first she just stood there, not even reacting to my kiss. Then slowly, I felt her start to kiss me back. I smirked into the kiss. After a while I slowly pulled back. The kiss had sobered me up a little and I realized what I had just done.

"Uh, sorry about that." I said sheepishly, breaking the kiss. I could feel my cheeks beginning to heat up.

"It's okay." she replied, her cheeks also glowing a soft pink color.

I pulled away from her, releasing her from where I had pinned her against the wall. Then I slowly walked away towards the bathrooms. After all those drinks I had to pee really badly.

*_*

Estrella

Draco had just walked away after kissing me, leaving me leaning against the wall, a little breathless. I couldn't believe that he had just kissed me. Granted, he was drunk, but still, he had kissed me none the less. And it was a pretty passionate kiss. I began to wonder about Draco's strange behavior lately. Was it possible that Draco liked me? I decided to push that thought out of my mind and join my sister.

When I finally found her I saw her talking with that dark haired boy from last night. What was his name? Henry, Harold, Hank… Harry? Yes, that was it, Harry. She seemed to be having an in depth conversation, so I decided to leave them. When I turned around to leave I bumped into someone.

"Oh, pardon me." I said while trying to move out of the way.

"Estrella?" said the person.

"Blaise! What are you doing here?"

"Oh my parents decided that we would be vacationing this weekend, so we came here. I think that they heard that the Malfoy's would be here."

"Oh."

"But I guess you girls are here, too."

"Yup."

"So, do you want to dance?"

"I'd love to." I replied as we made our way to the dance floor once again.

*_*

Esperanza

Draco had drug my sister off to some secluded corner, he was totally wasted, and everyone could tell. Eventually Alex and Dylan sauntered off while I spotted Harry and made my way over to he and his friends.

"Heya Harry!" I said as I arrived at their table. He looked up.

"Hey Hope. What are you up to tonight?" he asked.

"Oh nothing."

"Your not going to get your bloody boyfriend on Harry again, are you?" Asked the girl.

"What are you talking about?"

"Nothing." responded Harry.

"Did Draco say something to you?" I asked

"Don't worry about it."

"No, Harry, tell me what he said to you."

"Hey, do you want to dance?"

"You're changing the subject."

"I know, let's go."

Harry and I danced for a while, and then we started to talk about what school was going to be like. "Well it starts tomorrow, so you'll know soon enough, but I have a feeling that it is going to be different than you are expecting." Harry said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well I am just saying that people change at school."

"Do you change, Harry?"

"No."

"Who are you referring to?"

"Uh, how about we change the subject again?"

"You're no fun."

"Well what would you consider fun?"

"Well if you kissed me, that'd be fun." I boldly replied.

"You want me to kiss you?" he asked me nervously.

"Well only if you want to but--" He bent down and kissed me softly on the lips. Slowly he began to apply more pressure. I did the same. We broke apart and stared into each others eyes. His cheeks were a rosy color, as I am sure were mine. It was an amazing kiss. It was as if I literally saw fireworks.

"Do you wanna, you know, go some where else?" Harry asked.

"Some where more private?" Harry's cheeks flushed a deeper red. I smiled and grabbed his hand. We walked out of the club and upstairs to my room.

"Uh, aren't you staying with Malfoy?"

"Don't worry, he's down stairs with my sister, plus, we have separate rooms." He followed me through the door and into my room. I closed the door, and put a hair tie on the knob. Hopefully Estrella would take that hint.

I approached Harry and began to kiss him again. This time more forcefully. Eventually we ended up lying on the bed, making out. Slowly we pulled our lips apart; Harry ran his lips over my jaw line.

"It's getting late." Harry stated.

"So?"

"Maybe I should go?"

"Stay here tonight?" Harry looked into my eyes. "Don't worry, we can just sleep. I'm actually getting tired." I replied a little sheepishly. I had a feeling that he was not really sure what my intentions of that statement were.

"Okay." He finally replied. I smiled at him, then went over to my drawer, and grabbed a pair of pajama shorts and a tee shirt.

"I'm going to go change. You can use my owl to send a note to your friends if you want." Then I left the room and headed for the bathroom.

*_*

Estrella

Draco and I had been searching for my sister for about ten minutes; we were getting ready to go back to the room. Draco was still drunk, and I was getting tired. We wanted to let her know that we'd be leaving. I spotted the two kids that had been with Espy's friend, so I strolled over to them.

"Uh, hi, I was wondering if you've seen my sister." The girl slowly looked up.

"No, I haven't." She replied snootily.

"Hermione! Don't be so rude." The red haired kid said.

"Mind your business, Ronald!"

The boy looked to me, "You haven't seen Harry, have you?" We all stared at each other. We knew that where ever they were, they were together.

"Well thanks anyways, see you guys." The girl glared, and the boy gave a small wave.

I found Draco and told him that I was pretty sure that Espy would realize when we were gone and come to the room. Then we set off for our room. When we got in I headed for the bathroom, and Draco went to his room. He was sobering up, and getting a bit of a headache.

When I finished in the bathroom, I headed for my room. When I got to it, the door was closed. I thought it was strange, so I cautiously entered the room. When I looked on the bed, I saw Esperanza and Harry sleeping, cuddled against one another. I thought it was cute, until I realized that I had no where to sleep.

I decided that my only option would be Draco's room, unless I wanted to try for the couch. I gently knocked on his door.

"Come in." Slowly I opened the door. Draco saw me and gave a little smirk. "Hey, what's up?"

"Um, I found Espy, but, uh, our bed is kind of occupied."

"Oh, well we can share."

"I could use the couch." I said, second guessing my original thought.

"No, it's okay. I don't bite, I promise." I smiled.

"Thanks, Draco." I climbed into the side of the bed and snuggled down under the covers, grateful for the warmth. Shortly after, I felt Draco climb in on the other side. Then I fell asleep. Half way through the night I felt Draco drape his arm over my waist and I snuggled into his chest, groggily.


	8. About last night

_A/N: I know that it has been a LONG time since I have updated this, a_nd_ I apologize to those of you who have been waiting. I have quite a bit of it written, I just was unhappy with the way it was going, and then life got in the way, and well, yeah. lol Now that I have written, posted, and completed SW I am in the mood to write again. So, with a little motivation from_** Cookiere4 **_and some ambition, I am going to attempt to continue AMLT. Hope that you all still enjoy it! :-)_

**8. About Last Night…**

Estrella

I woke up to my head resting on a soft, sculpted, creamy colored chest. I was embraced in strong arms, and a light, cologne like smell lingered in my nose. I tried to move as little as possible so as to not wake Draco, but I had a feeling that was going to be impossible, since his arms were wrapped so tightly around my body. I could hear the steady beating of his heart, and his deep, even breathing.

I looked up at his face and it seemed so innocent, so angelic. Then I saw his eyes open slowly. I found myself lost in his icy blue eyes. They were breathtaking. I had never really been this close to Draco, unless you counted him carrying me from the forest to the house, or that night he kissed me on accident… or last night when he kissed me.

He let out a moan and put one of his hands to his forehead.

"Hangover?" I asked.

"Um-hm…" he murmured.

"I know a spell… I could do it for you if you want."

"Please?"

"Okay, let me just get my wand." I untangled my self from both Draco's arms, and the bed sheets, and headed for the dresser where I had set my wand. I walked back to the bed and sat on my side. "Okay, here goes." I pointed the wand to Draco's forehead and softly mumbled the spell. Within seconds I could tell that he was feeling better.

"Thanks." he said softly, the look in his eyes made it seem as if he really meant it.

"No Problem." I replied.

"Listen, about last night-"

"Don't worry about it, forget it."

"No! I mean, well I'm sorry, but I-"

Just then the bedroom door flew open and Esperanza came strolling in. "Hello, Loves, did you two have a nice sleep last night? I know I sure did!"

"I'm sure you did." I said a bit sarcastically.

"Hey now! I was not only doing my self a favor last night, but I was doing you two a favor as well!" she said with an all knowing smile.

"How do you figure?" I questioned.

"Well I saw you and Draco getting cozy at the club," My cheeks, as well as Draco's turned a faint pink color, "And I figured that you two might want to get cozier during the night, it was kind of cold, you notice? And so, to make things a little less awkward, I decided that if I created an environment that forced you to sleep in the same room, then it would cut down on the pussy footing, and everything would be out in the open!"

Draco's cheeks turned a deeper pink shade. "Hope."

"Yes, Draco?" He gave her a glare. "Oh, you didn't tell her?" I looked quizzically back and forth between the two of them.

"No." he answered simply.

"Well then let me bring her up to speed. Esty, Draco likes you. See? Easy right? Now it is in the open and you can move on!" Espy gave a smile and then bounded back out the door and back into her room.

Draco and I sat in a somewhat awkward silence for a few moments. I knew that what Espy had said must be true from the way Draco was acting. I finally decided to break the silence, even though I couldn't think of a good way in which to do it, "So, what Esperanza says is true?"

He just looked at me. I knew by the look in his eyes that he was embarrassed. He didn't answer, so I continued, "Draco?"

"Hum?"

"I- never mind." He looked at me questioningly. Then he got up out of bed and walked towards the living room.

"I'm going to order room service. Do you want something?"

"Yeah," I got up and followed him into the living room. I was following, and not really paying attention, so when Draco stopped, I didn't notice and walked right into the back of him. I lost my balance, but he put a steadying hand on my shoulder.

When I looked in front of him, I saw why he had stopped. Esperanza was standing in a passionate lip lock with Harry. Draco had a look a furry on his face. I knew that nothing good could come from that look, so I grabbed Draco's arm and attempted to pull him back into his room, but he wouldn't budge. I decided that the only thing left to do is announce our presence. I softly cleared my throat.

Espy broke away from Harry and turned to look at us with a smile. When she saw Draco's expression, her smile slightly faltered. Harry's eyes had turned dark. Obviously he hadn't realized that Draco was also living in this room. His cheeks were slightly flushed. I wasn't sure if it was from the kiss, being caught in the kiss, or the fact that he and Draco were standing around in their boxers—although I imagine that that was the last thing on either of their minds.

I tried once again to take Draco into the bedroom, this time he reluctantly came with me. When I got him in the room with the door closed, I laid it into him. "What was that all about?"

"What?" he asked edgily.

"All that glaring!"

"That was Potter she was snogging!"

"So?"

"Harry Potter, the 'Chosen One,' Hero of Hogwarts and the rest of the world?"

"Oh. But what does that matter?"

"I hate him… He's a -"

"Draco! Why do you hate him?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Ok."

"I told him to stay away from Hope."

"Ever think that maybe it was Espy's idea? You know that she gets what she wants." Draco just glowered at me. "Look, why does it matter?"

"It just does. He's filthy muggle loving, mud blood loving-" I could see this was going no where. So I decided that I would order our breakfast, while Draco stayed here in the room, at least until Harry left.

When I got into the living room, Harry and Espy were nowhere to be found. I checked the bedroom, but they weren't there either. I grabbed the menu and went back to the bedroom.

Esperanza

I rolled over and found my face in Harry's well sculpted chest. He moaned softly and draped his arm on me. "I'm hungry," I whispered. Harry laughed and stretched. "I'm going to go check on Esty, I'll be back, then we can order some breakfast."

I rolled out of bed and grabbed my robe. I wrapped it around me and then set for Draco's room. I pushed the door open and walked in. "Hello, Loves, did you two have a nice sleep last night? I know I sure did!" I said in greeting to their slightly surprised looks.

"I'm sure you did." Espy said a bit sarcastically.

"Hey now! I was not only doing my self a favor last night, but I was doing you two a favor as well!" I said with an all knowing smile.

"How do you figure?" she questioned.

"Well I saw you and Draco getting cozy at the club and I figured that you two might want to get cozier during the night, it was kind of cold, you notice? And so, to make things a little less awkward, I decided that if I created an environment that forced you to sleep in the same room, then it would cut down on the pussy footing, and everything would be out in the open!"

Draco's cheeks turned a pink shade. "Hope."

"Yes, Draco?" He gave me a glare. "Oh, you didn't tell her?" Oops, guess I spilled the beans then.

"No." he answered simply.

"Well then let me bring her up to speed. Esty, Draco likes you. See? Easy right? Now it is in the open and you can move on!" I gave a smile and then bounded back out the door and back into my room.

I knew that Draco was not going to be happy about my embarrassing him, but at least it is in the open now. My Goddess, she needed to find out somehow, and I knew that Draco wasn't going to get the nerve up to do it.

I got into the bedroom and told Harry that we should go order some breakfast. He agreed and we went into the living room. We were looking over the menu when I felt his warm breath on my neck. I put the menu down and turned to face him. We both leaned in and started to kiss. It became more and more passionate. Soon I heard a throat being cleared. Oops! Guess we were caught! I slowly turned towards the sound, smiling.

When I saw the look on Draco's face, I felt mine fall a little. I was grateful for Esty pulling him into the bedroom. I looked at Harry; his eyes were full of hate. "Maybe we should go out for breakfast." I stated. He looked at me and nodded in agreement. We went into the bedroom and quickly I changed into some fresh clothes as he pulled on last nights.

We left the room and walked along the hallway. "We should get you some clean clothes." I said.

"Yeah." he replied as he pushed the down arrow on the elevator.

It opened and we stepped in, Harry pushing the floor 5 button. Slowly the elevator doors slid back open. I followed him down the hallway. Finally he stopped in front of a door and opened it with his key. We stepped inside and I took in his room. It was small. Not at all like the room we were staying in. There were two queen sized beds in the room, along with a small table, a night stand and a dresser. The bathroom was also small, holding only a small shower and a toilet.

Harry headed towards the dresser and pulled out a clean pair of pants. He slid his off and put on the clean ones, then he did the same with a shirt. He grabbed the stuff out of his pockets and put them into the pants he had on. Then we left and headed back towards the elevator.

The whole time, all I could think about was how small his room had been. Not that I felt differently about him because he wasn't rich, it just made me realize how good Draco, my sister, and I have it.

Downstairs in the restaurant, Harry and I grabbed a small table in the corner. We ordered our food and then sat there. I was feeling a bit awkward since we hadn't said anything in a while. So I decided that I wanted to know what he was thinking.

"Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you thinking right now?"

"Same thing as you."

"Huh?"

He smiled. "I was just thinking, 'hum, I wonder what Hope is thinking right now."

We both laughed. "I guess great minds think alike!" I said between laughs.

Finally our food arrived and we dug in hungrily. When we finished, Harry laid down a couple on Knuts and we headed out to see what everyone else was up to. "What time do you leave today?" I asked.

"Noon."

"Okay, we leave around then, too, I think.

"Okay."

"Let's see what Esty's up to." I suggested.

"Uh…"

"What's up with you and Draco?"

"We don't exactly see eye to eye."

"I'd noticed." We had arrived in the lobby. I saw an empty pool table and decided to challenge Harry to a game. He agreed and we set off to play.

We were having fun, and finishing up our third game when the snooty girl that hung out with him walked up. "Harry? We're getting ready to go back to Ron's. Are you ready?" She said and then glared back at me.

"Uh, yeah," he said and then turned to me, "I'll see you on the train tomorrow?"  
"Yeah, defiantly. See you tomorrow, Harry." I leaned in and we shared one last kiss. The girl got either impatient or disgusted, because I heard her huff and stomp off. Finally we broke apart and Harry whispered one more goodbye before he walked towards his friends. I watched him while he walked out the door and then I headed up for my room.

Draco

Estrella had talked me into checking out the arcade, after breakfast, while we were waiting to leave. We played a couple of short games of air hockey. Then I noticed Estrella eyeing a yellow plush duck with reddish colored spots on it that was in the claw machine.

I decided that I would win it for her. I used to be good at these games when I was a kid. I didn't see any reason why I wouldn't still be good. I took out a knut and slid it into the slot on the front of the machine. I saw Estrella look up, when she saw it was me she smiled, her whole face lighting up. She had such a pretty smile.

I zoned in on the duck, then I slowly began to maneuver the claw so that it was directly on top of the duck. I began to lower it; the claw fastened securely around the ducks neck and began to rise. The duck teetered, but stayed in the claw. Finally the claw reached the drop bucket and I retrieved it. I walked over towards Estrella, who was now smiling widely.

"For you," I said as I handed it to her.

"Thank you!" she exclaimed and then planted a kiss on my cheek. I felt my cheeks blush slightly. Why did she have that effect on me? I mean I used to make out with Espy all the time, and I never once felt like this.

Estrella cradled the duck in her arms as we walked towards the coffee stand. It was almost time to leave. We ordered a couple of coffees and headed towards our room to make sure that the house elves didn't forget to pack anything.

After checking the room, we headed for the lobby. I could tell that Esty was getting nervous about going to Hogwarts tomorrow, but I wasn't quite sure what to say to her. I guessed that I could start by telling her a little about the train ride, and how she would be sorted. Oh yeah, I forgot that she still hadn't been sorted. What if she wasn't a Slytherin? Could that even happen?

"So, nervous about tomorrow?" I asked quietly as we sat on a sofa.

"Yeah, a little."

"You'll do fine!"

"I hope your right. I have a feeling that this is going to be a lot different than Spain."

"Yeah. You can sit with me on the train though."

"Okay, thanks."

"No problem…" I paused, "You know how Espy said that I like you." I continued, without even thinking about what I was saying.

"Yeah."

"Well, I do. Like you that is."

"Really?"

"Yeah." By now my cheeks must have looked as if they were on fire. I saw her cheeks blush as well. "Will you sit with me at the Welcome Back dinner?"

"Sure."

"Thanks." Just then I saw Espy coming towards us. Thank the Goddess I thought to my self. At least now I could rely on her to keep me from making a fool of myself, hopefully.

Espy bounded towards us, and took a seat in the chair across from us. "Hey, guys, what's up?"

"Not much," Esty answered, "Are you ready to go home?"

"Yeah, mum and dad should be down any minute." she said.

As if right on cue, our parents walked into the lobby. "I trust you all are ready." Lucius asked.

"Yes, father, we are." I answered him, while standing and walking towards them. Espy and Esty followed suit.

"Good, then you three floo to the mansion, and we'll be joining you soon."  
"What about Max?" Esty asked.

"He's going to his friend's house." Her mother answered.

"Oh. Okay. See you there." We all waved good bye and went to the fireplace. We each grabbed a fist full of powder and tossed it into the fire. Then we stepped in after it. I can't wait until we can freely apparate. It would make things so much easier.


	9. Slytherin or Gryffindor?

**9. Slytherin or Gryffindor?**

* * *

Estrella

I woke up early Monday morning and finished packing my trunk. Today we would be traveling to Hogwarts were we would be spending a year living in their dorms and with their students. My stomach gave a nervous lunge as I thought about it.

When I finished with my packing, I got dressed and headed down for breakfast. I walked into the dinning room and found only my mother seated at the table eating eggs and reading the newspaper.

I took my normal seat, and a house elf appeared to see what I wanted to eat. I asked for toast, and soon had it. My stomach was too upset from being nervous to eat much more than toast.

I heard footsteps in the hallway, they were heavy, the door swung open revealing Lucius standing behind it. "Estrella, are you nearly ready?" he asked me.

"Yes, sir." I said as I dabbed my napkin on my mouth and stood.

"The limo is waiting outside. Your mothers will be seeing you off, as your father and I have some business to attend to."

"Yes, sir." I replied once more as I walked past him and into the entrance way. I saw the last house elf carrying my trunk out of the house and to the waiting limo.

"Come, Estrella. Or are you just going to stand in this doorway all day?" my mother called from behind me.

I slowly began walking towards the car. I hated starting at new schools. You went in knowing virtually nobody, although I always had my sister, and I knew Draco, and Blaise, and Pansy, and Crabbe and Goyle, and Harry… Well I guess I knew quite a few people, but it did not keep my nerves from jumping all around like they were being electrified.

When the limo finally pulled into the station I nearly jumped and hit my head on the roof when Draco tapped my arm to say that we were here. My sister snickered and then exited the car. I don't know why these things are always so easy for her.

When we got to the wall between platforms 9 and 10, my father informed us that we would have to walk through the wall to get our platform, which was 9 ¾. I looked at him as if he was off his rocker. Walk through a wall? I looked to Draco, to see if maybe it was just a joke, but his face showed no sign of joking—only a little amusement at the face that I was freaking out about walking through a wall.

Finally we found ourselves on the train. Draco, Esperanza, Blaise, Pansy, and I were all cramped into one compartment. Well not really cramped, we still had room, but when Crabbe and Goyle entered, it began to get boarder line cramped.

So the seven of us were sitting there talking when out of no where, this slimy multicolored toad comes hopping into our compartment. I screamed, naturally, and jump, nearly landing myself in Draco's lap. Everyone had a good laugh at that until Blaise shooed it out of the compartment. I didn't find it to amusing, but everyone else seemed to.

Soon a woman came around with a cart calling out, "Anything from the trolley, dears?" The 'trolley' was stuffed full of all types of goodies. Chocolate frogs, Bertie Botts beans, you name it, and it was on the trolley. The thought of food made my stomach slightly queasy. I don't know whether it was my nerves, or whether it was the motion of the train getting to me.

Draco apparently noticed my sudden nausea, and looked concerned. My face had gone sheet white and my lips were paling. "Are you alright?" he asked me with a note of concern in his voice.

"Uh, no, I don't think I am." I replied.

"You don't look it either," chimed in Pansy.

"Thanks." I retorted.

"Maybe you should lie down and rest." Draco suggested as he lowed my head to his shoulder. I complied and rested on his shoulder, fighting the nausea, which was beginning to burn my throat.

Soon I felt a gentle shaking of my shoulder, and heard a whisper in my ear, "Esty, it's time to change into our robes, come on, I'll walk you and Espy to the loo." I slowly begin to sit up, not wanting to get anymore light headed than I was earlier. "If you're not feeling any better when we get to Hogwarts, I'll take you to see Madam Pomfery." Draco suggests as we enter the corridor and head for the banos.

Once my sister and I are fully changed into our robes, we exit the bathroom and find Draco patiently waiting in the hall. He leads us back to the compartment and we take our seats once again.

A few moments later, Pansy looks out the window and announces, "Look, guys, we're here." A rush of excitement and nerves enters my body. The train begins to slow itself to a stop and the compartments began to empty into the corridor.

When we finally get out of the claustrophobic corridor that is filled with terrified first years, cocky seventh years, and arrogant Slytherins, we find our selves facing these very large winged horses. They aren't ordinary horses, they seem to be fleshless.

"What are those?" I ask Draco.

"Oh, you can see them, too? They're Thestrals."

"What to you mean I can see them too? Can't everyone?"

"No." he answers simply before leading us to a carriage that was being pulled by these Thestrals.

"What are you guys talking about?" Espy interjected.

"Can't you see them?"

"See what?"

"The horses, the Thestrals."

"No, where."

"I told you everyone can't see them." Draco interrupted.

"Then why can I?"  
"Well only people who have witnessed death can see them."

"Oh." I said to my self.

* * *

~Flash back~

It was a dark and dreary night and my father had forced me to come with him to run some so called "errands." We came to a house that sat on a small rickety frame. It looked as if it would topple over at the first sign of any sort of wind.

My father opened the creaking gate and ushered me into the walk way. He confidently walked up to the door and abruptly knocked on it. I held my breath, thinking that the force of his knock was gone to bring the house crashing down.

Slowly and cautiously the front door opened. "Esteban? Is that you?" The middle aged woman asked, as she opened the door a little wider.

"Yes, it is I, Marie." my father answered in his Hispanic accent.

"Well, come in," she said as she smiled and motioned him inside. She took no notice of me, and I was lucky to even make it in the door before she slammed it shut. "So what brings you here, Esteban?"

"Well you see, Marie, it's really Tanner who brings me here."

"What do you want with Tanner?" she asks nervously, and for the first time I notice the baby sleeping in the crib in the corner of the small room.

"I need to take him away with me for a while, on a sort of vacation."

"Never! I won't let you touch him!"

"I was afraid of this, Marie; I really didn't want it to come down to this."

"Come down to what?" she asked, fear flashing through her eyes. My father pulled out his wand and raised it. "No, please!" The woman pleaded, but her pleads were cut short.

"ADAVA KADAVARA!" My father bellowed, as a burst of green light shot out of the end of his wand. Marie fell to the ground, her still wide open eyes, now lifeless, her face stuck for eternity in a terrified expression.

My father grabbed the baby from its crib and roughly handed it to me. "Take this home and give it to your mother. She will know what to do with it." He said while shoving me towards the fire place. He threw Floo powder into it, and then gave me a rough shove into the flames.

~End Flash Back~

* * *

"Estrella? Estrella! Are you okay?" I jolted out of my memory and realized that we were pulling up to the entrance way.

"Yeah, fine," I shrugged as I stood to exit the carriage.

A tall, thin lady that was wearing her hair up in a bun came up to us and said, "You must be Esperanza and Estrella Castillo. Please follow me to the holding room. From there you will get sorted and then join your classmates. Good evening, Mr. Malfoy."

Draco mumbled a reply and then followed the flow of students as we were ushered off to the side. When we finally arrived in a side room, we were face to face with a bunch of nervous first years. They looked to us hopefully, and then realized that we looked nervous as well, just not as nervous as they did.

Finally we got the signal that we could start filing into the great hall. We entered, and I saw four long tables filled with hundreds of students, all laughing smiling and have a good time. A hush came about the hall when students noticed the entrance. Dumbledore called for silence and gave a small speech, then he announced that the sorting would begin.

First up was Esperanza, since we were transfer students, we didn't have to wait for our names to come up alphabetically; we got to be sorted first. Espy took her seat on the stool in the middle of the stage area, and a big floppy hat was placed on her head. I mumbled a few things and then "hum'd" in thought. Finally it made up its mind and yelled, "SLYTHERIN!" The table that I assumed was Slytherin, since it was below the Slytherin banner, erupted in applause.

I was up next. My knees began to go weak and I wasn't sure if I would make it to the stool that appeared to be miles away. Finally, though, I made it. The hat was placed on my head, and it immediately began talking.

"Hum… another Castillo, eh? Well let's see, you are patient and loyal, could be Hufflepuff… You are very wise, could be a Ravenclaw…Yet you are also very brave, could be Gryffindor. Yes, I think Gryffindor would suit you well. But wait what's this? Hum… Your family seems to be dark, and your sister has already been sorted into Slytherin… better make it… SLYTHERIN!"

I was so relieved by this answer that I nearly tripped as I ran down the stairs to join Draco and my sister at the Slytherin table.

"See, I told you no worries about making it into Slytherin." Draco beamed as he scooted over, making room for me. Yeah, sure, no worries. Only problem is, the hat almost put me into Gryffindor, the one house that I was promised that I didn't want to be a member of.


	10. Truth Serum

**10. Truth Serum **

Draco

A loud snore caused me to wake up. I glanced around and saw the sun shinning through the curtains over the window. I was stuck in a room with Crabbe, Goyle, and Blaise again. And as always, Goyle still had his snoring problem. I was half tempted to push the pillow down over his face, but then I decided that I would get up and take a shower, it would be time to get up soon anyways.

After my shower, I dressed in my school robes and set off down towards the common room. This was my favorite time to be in the common room, no bloody first years making a racket, nobody pouring over their books studying for the next exam—just me and the fireplace.

I heard foot steps coming down the girls' stair case, but I wasn't really paying attention. Soon I felt somebody sit next to me on the couch. Reluctantly I turned to see who had joined me and saw Esperanza.

"Hey," I said dully turning back to the fire.

"Hey…" she replied. After a few beats of silence she began again. "Draco?"

"Hum? "

"I want to ask you something."

"Shoot,"

"Are you mad about what you saw at the hotel?"

I stayed silent. How was I supposed to answer that? _Of course I was mad, you kissed bloody Potter!_ I thought to myself. But I didn't really feel like I could tell her that. She was like my best friend.

"Draco?"

"Hum? Oh… uh…"

"I know that you and Harry don't see eye to eye, but I like him. He's a great guy if you got to know him."

"You don't know him."  
"I think I know him more than you do."

"Look, your right, we don't get along, but don't let him make you think that it is always me who is causing the trouble, you know me better than that."

"Yeah, I know. But will you be okay with me seeing him?"

"Seeing him?"

"Yeah, he told me that there is going to be a back to school dance, and he asked me to go. I want to make sure your cool with that."

"Uh, I guess."

"Are you sure?"

"Well would you listen to me even if I said no?"

"Probably not."

"Didn't think so." I smiled at Hope. She had this radiant, happy glow around her. I didn't have the heart to tell her the truth. The truth was that I wasn't cool with her going to the dance with Potter. I wasn't cool with her calling him Harry. And I defiantly wasn't cool with the thought of them dance, and kissing, and anything else they might do. No, I was not cool with it. But Hope was my best friend, I couldn't bear to tell her this, because I know that she would turn him down for me, but I know that that would hurt her.

By now it was time for breakfast, so Hope and I went down to the dinning hall. I was hoping to catch Estrella before I went down, so that I could ask her if she would go to the dance with me. No such luck though. I'd have to just wait until Potions, which was our first class, to ask her.

Estrella

I woke up and looked at the clock, "Great," I mumbled to my self, "First day of classes and your already running late." I had no time for breakfast, and barely enough time for a shower. I quickly ran into the shower and then dressed in my school robes. Everyone else had already gone down to breakfast, and although my stomach was begging for food, there was simply no time for food.

My first class was potions, but I had no idea where the class room was. I quickly scurried down the dorm steps and into the common room, where I bumped into Blaise.

"Hey, Estrella. Running late?"

"Hey! Yeah, really late."

"Me, too."

"Hey, you have Potions now to, right?"

"Yeah, come on, I'll show you where it is."

We walked out of the common room and down the long, shadowy corridor. "So," Blaise began, "Has anyone asked you to the Back to School dance yet?"

"No."

"Really?"

"No, I'm lying. Yes really!"

"Well would you like to go with me?" My head started to spin with this question. I had had a crush on Blaise forever.

"Sure." I replied, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Great! Oh, we're here."

We walked into the classroom and I saw that most of the students were already here. Draco motioned for me to come and join him at his table. I turned and told Blaise "Thanks for walking me to class," Then I went over and sat next to Draco. My sister was sitting with Pansy directly in front of me, and Crabbe and Goyle were sitting at the table behind us.

Soon the professor walked in, Snape, and he began listing ingredients on the board. When he was finished, he turned around and announced that this was our assignment and we were to begin immediately. Draco went to grab the ingredients from the supply cabinet, while I readied our cauldron.

"So, any ideas on what this is going to do?" I questioned Draco as we began working on the potion.

He looked thoughtful for a moment and then answered, "Nope, not a clue!" as he smiled at me, concentrating on the potion.

We continued with the potion, mixing in all the ingredients and watching as it turned into a purpley-blue color. Finally, Snape called for time, saying that we should place our potions into two bottles. One for grading and one for experimentation. Then he stated that one of the partners should try the potion.

Draco and I looked at each other. We didn't know who should take the potion, mostly because we didn't know what the potion was going to do. We watched as a number of the other partners downed the bottles.

Finally, Draco grabbed the bottle and downed its contents. I stared at him waiting for a reaction to occur. Nothing seemed to be happening. Snape stood up from his chair and walked around to the front of his desk.

"What you all have created is a form of veritaserum. This is a milder version, meaning that it is not a fully functioning truth serum. You can only tell the truth to the person or people that you really care about the most. Everyone else you will tell a lie to, or at least a half truth."

The whole class burst into murmurs. I heard one girl say, "Wow! What a great potion!" The whole class burst into giggles, knowing that it was the potion talking and that she was telling a lie. They all agreed with her.

Draco had a strange look on his face, but he didn't say any thing. Snape finally dismissed class and Draco and I exited the room together. Esperanza was hanging around with Harry. I followed Draco as he led me around to a somewhat empty corridor. He turned to face me.

"Estrella?" his voice sent a slight chill up my spine. Why, I didn't know.

"Uh-huh."

"Would you go to the welcome back ball with me?" Oh shit. Why did he have to ask me this now? After Blaise had already asked me. Then again why do I really care? I've had a crush on Blaise forever, but I guess that Draco's recent show of nice-ness had really gotten to me. "Estrella?" he questioned again, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Oh, I, uh… I'm sorry Draco." his face visibly fell. "I can't, I've already promised Blaise. He asked me this morning on the way to class."

"Oh, uh… I, uh, I have to get out of here." He had a strange look on his face as he turned to walk away. I grabbed his wrist.

"Draco, what's wrong?" I could tell he was having an internal struggle. I had never seen him act like this before.

"I…" he struggled some more, "I'm… "He turned away, pulling his wrist from my grip and walked quickly down the hallway.

"What was that all about?" Esperanza questioned. Stepping up behind me.

"I have no idea."

"What did he say to you?"

"He asked me to go to the ball with him."

"What did you say?"

"I told him I couldn't. Blaise already asked and I said I would go with him."

"Oh. Well do you want to walk to our next class together? Harry has the same as us, Transfigurations."

"Yeah, okay."

I walked along with Harry and Esperanza to our next class. When we entered, I saw Draco sitting alone in the back of the room. He saw me enter, but avoided all eye contact. The look on his face was embarrassment mixed with… hurt? The seat next to his was empty, and I felt an urge to sit next to him. So I did. When I sat down he scotched his chair over a little, and still avoided eye contact.

McGonagall started a somewhat boring lecture on the subject matter and I decided to write Draco a note. For some reason I really wanted to know what was wrong with him. So I took out a quill and a piece of parchment and wrote:

_ Draco,_

_Hey, what's wrong? And don't say nothing, because I can tell that something is bothering you._

_Esty_

I folded the parchment in half and slid it over towards him. At first he just kind of looked at it, then slowly, he unfolded it and read it. I could tell he was having another of his internal battles. Finally he picked up his quill and jotted down a reply.

**_Look, you want to know what's wrong, well here it is, I wanted to go with you to the ball. It never entered my mind that Blaise was going to ask you, although it should have since he has liked you for a long time. But it didn't. I waited for you to come down this morning, before breakfast, but you didn't, and then you didn't show up at breakfast._**

I read his reply and felt a certain sympathy towards him. I knew what it was like to want to do something with some one and then be turned down. Hell, Draco himself had done it to me himself on several occasions; of course he didn't know it. I wrote another reply:

_I'm sorry. I didn't know. If I would have known that you were going to ask me then I would have waited to give Blaise a reply._

**_What do you mean you would have waited to give him a reply?_**

_Well, I would have had to think about who I wanted to go with. I mean lately you have been nice to me, but frankly in the past you have been a kind of ass hole towards me. And Blaise, well I've had a crush on him for a while now._

**_Oh._**

By now I had a hunch that maybe this was the potion talking. Mostly because this was so uncharacteristic for Draco to be acting like this. But was the potion reacting this way because it was the truth, and he cared about me, or was it reacting this way because it was a lie, since the potion made you lie to everyone except the person that you cared about. So I decided to do a test.

_Hey, what color is my shirt?_

When Draco read the note he got a funny look on his face, his brow furrowing.

_**Brown, why?**_

That was the truth; I was wearing a brown shirt under my robes.

_Draco, is it true that you really care about me?_

He hesitated a moment before replying.

**_Yes. And I hate Snape._**

I chuckled softly reading his reply.

_Why's that?_

**_I think that you have caught on by now._**

I smiled at Draco, and crumpled up the note, performing a small spell that made the note poof up into a ball of smoke. This caused McGonagall to give me a stern look and then continue on with her lesson. So it was true, Draco Malfoy cared about me. But how did I feel about that?


End file.
